The European Culture Area

by Murphy, Alexander B.; Jordan-Bychkov, Terry G.; Jordan, Bella Bychkova

• ISBN13: 9780742556713
• ISBN10: 0742556719
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-09-08
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Pub Inc

Summary

Now in a fully updated fifth edition, this premier text has been thoroughly revised to reflect the sweeping changes the past decade has brought to Europe. Long hailed for its creativity and intellectual depth, the book is now further enriched by the expertise of a new lead author, noted geographer Alexander B. Murphy. In this edition, he has focused on Europe's role in the wider world and incorporated new research and teaching approaches in regional geography. The book employs a cultural-historical approach that is ideally suited to facilitate understanding of Europe's ancient, complex geographical character. Its topical organization'¬ ;including environment, ethnicity, religion, language, demography, politics, industry, and urban and rural life'¬ ;offers students a holistic understanding of the diverse European culture area. Inclusive, intellectual, rich in ideas, lively, interesting, and humanistic, The European Culture Area remains the text of choice for courses on the geography of Europe.

Author Biography

Alexander B. Murphy is professor of geography and Rippey Chair in Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Oregon

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xiii
A Note about Place Names	p. xv
What Is Europe?	p. 1
Europe as a Physical Entity	p. 1
Europe as a Human Entity	p. 7
Placing Europe	p. 11
This Book's Approach	p. 16
Why Study Europe?	p. 20
Sources and Suggested Readings	p. 23
Habitat	p. 25
Europe's Geomorphology and Hydrogeography	p. 25
Mountains	p. 29
Hills	p. 33
Plains	p. 33
Hydrogeography	p. 35
Human Modification of Lands and Waters	p. 37
The Special Case of the Netherlands	p. 38
Europe's Climate	p. 45
Marine West Coast	p. 48
Mediterranean	p. 49
Humid Continental	p. 50
Minor Climate Types	p. 51
Human Alteration of the Atmosphere	p. 52
Vegetation Patterns	p. 54
Broadleaf Deciduous Forest	p. 54
Mixed Deciduous and Coniferous Forest	p. 58
Mediterranean Forest	p. 61
Smaller-Scale Vegetation Zones	p. 63
The Impacts of Acid Precipitation on Forests	p. 64
Soils	p. 65
Sources and Suggested Readings	p. 67
Demography	p. 71
The Big Picture	p. 72
The Role of the Environment	p. 75
Rates of Natural Population Growth	p. 77
Political-Economic Circumstances	p. 81
Migration	p. 85
Scale Differences	p. 89
Sources and Suggested Readings	p. 91
The Pattern of Languages	p. 95
Languages and Language Families	p. 95
The Diffusion of Indo-European Tongues into Europe	p. 100
The Three Major Subfamilies of Indo-European	p. 103
Romance Languages	p. 103
Germanic Languages	p. 106
The Special Case of English	p. 109
Slavic Languages	p. 110
Other Indo-European Languages	p. 111
Non-Indo-European Languages	p. 114
Linguistic Decline and Revival	p. 117
Multilingualism	p. 119
Sources and Suggested Readings	p. 121
The Geography of Religion	p. 125
Pre-Christian Europe	p. 126
Diffusion of Christianity	p. 128
Christian Fragmentation	p. 132
Roman Catholicism	p. 133
Pilgrimages	p. 135
Protestantism	p. 136
Eastern Orthodoxy	p. 140
The East-West Divide	p. 143
Uniate and Armenian Churches	p. 146
Dechristianization	p. 146
Sects and Cults	p. 148
Non-Christian Minorities	p. 149
Islam	p. 149
Judaism	p. 155
Conclusion	p. 157
Sources and Suggested Readings	p. 158
The European State System	p. 161
The General Picture	p. 161
The Emergence of the European State Pattern	p. 163
The Twentieth-Century European State	p. 169
Case Studies	p. 174
France: The Quintessential Unitary State	p. 174
Germany: Federalism in the European Core	p. 176
The United Kingdom: Core-Periphery Tensions	p. 178
Italy: Roman Legacy	p. 180
Spain: A Multiethnic State	p. 181
Switzerland and Belgium: Astride a Language Divide	p. 183
Yugoslavia: Fragmentation in the Balkans	p. 186
Russia: Nation-State or Empire?	p. 188
Ukraine: From Border Province to Independent State	p. 191
European Integration	p. 191
Supranational Military Engagements	p. 196
Sources and Suggested Readings	p. 198
Land and Life in the Rural Sector	p. 201
Traditional Agriculture	p. 201
Mediterranean Agriculture	p. 203
Three-Field Farming	p. 207
Hardscrabble Herder-Farmers	p. 208
Shifting Cultivation of the North	p. 209
Nomadic Herding	p. 209
Traditional Land and Settlement Patterns	p. 211
New Crop Introductions	p. 217
Modern Agricultural Systems	p. 219
Market Gardening	p. 221
Dairying	p. 222
Cattle/Hog Fattening	p. 224
Sheep Raising	p. 225
Cash Grain Farming	p. 225
Reindeer Ranching	p. 225
Fishing and Fish Farming	p. 226
Land Tenure in the Modern Era	p. 227
Productivity Patterns	p. 230
Rural Depopulation	p. 233
Preserving Rural Landscapes	p. 234
Sources and Suggested Readings	p. 235
Manufacturing and Industry	p. 237
Historical Overview (Pre-Eighteenth Century)	p. 237
Traditional Manufacturing Systems	p. 239
The Industrial Revolution	p. 239
Diffusion of the Industrial Revolution	p. 243
Spreading Beyond the Coalfields	p. 246
Social and Political Dimensions of Industrialization	p. 248
Environmental Dimensions of Industrialization	p. 250
Deindustrialization	p. 252
Industrial Rejuvenation	p. 256
Core and Periphery	p. 258
Sources and Suggested Readings	p. 259
The Service and Information Economy	p. 263
Transportation	p. 265
Highways	p. 265
Railroads	p. 271
Waterways	p. 277
Pipelines	p. 280
Air Transport	p. 281
Communications	p. 282
Energy Production	p. 282
Tourism	p. 285
Retailing and Governmental/Social Services	p. 290
The Quaternary Sector	p. 290
Sources and Suggested Readings	p. 292
The European City	p. 295
The Rise of the European City	p. 295
The Medieval City	p. 299
City Sites	p. 301
City Attributes	p. 305
Medieval Urban Morphology	p. 307
Renaissance-Baroque Urban Development (1500-1800)	p. 310
The Industrial City	p. 310
Characteristics of the Mid-Twentieth-Century European City	p. 313
The Late/Postindustrial European City	p. 316
The Preindustrial Core	p. 319
The Preindustrial Periphery	p. 320
The Industrial Suburbs	p. 320
The Postindustrial Suburbs	p. 321
Regional Variations	p. 322
The Modern Urban Pattern	p. 331
Sources and Suggested Readings	p. 334
Europe's Changing Social and Ethnic Geography	p. 341
Patterns of Social Well-Being	p. 344
Health	p. 349
Employment	p. 352
Education	p. 353
The Role of Women	p. 354
Ethnic Patterns	p. 357
The Traditional Social Model in Transition	p. 364
The Challenge from Globalization	p. 364
The Demographic Challenge	p. 366
The Immigration Challenge	p. 370
Sources and Suggested Readings	p. 371
Whither European Integration?	p. 375
Impetuses for Integration	p. 378
Globalization	p. 378
The Changing Geopolitical Order	p. 379
Relationships with Surrounding Regions	p. 381
Heightened Interaction	p. 381
Economic Advances	p. 382
The "Irrationality" of the Pattern of States	p. 384
Ethno-regionalism	p. 385
Impetuses for Fragmentation	p. 387
Globalization	p. 387
The Changing Geopolitical Order	p. 388
Nationalism	p. 388
Bureaucratization	p. 390
Differences over Widening and Deepening	p. 391
Heightened Interaction	p. 392
Ethno-regionalism	p. 394
Where from Here?	p. 394
Sources and Suggested Readings	p. 398
Glossary	p. 401
Index	p. 411
About the Authors	p. 425
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.